Stolen car...please help

HECK. I'D WANT $1800 JUST TO TYPE THE STORY.

 

I am amazed as usual. First all the internet detectives who said why are the "cops" not doing anything and it would be so easy to get this guy (you know who you are). The victim doesn't have such great leads after all. Secondly, Matt don't you dare get on here and claim "oh I didn't know the cops were going to pick up and arrest the suspect I identified". Yes Matt don't claim you told the Detective he LOOKS LIKE THE GUY. That is pure BS we don't arrest on it looks like the guy. Yeah you thought they were going to just find him and question him. Then you say you were surprised by the crimestoppers airing, for gods sake all you have done is B___h that the "cops" have done nothing on your complaint. Now what appears to be an innocient man gets arrested and you want to make it appear that the police went further than they should have and they should have given you the chance to see him in person and be sure. This story is full of it a mistake was made in identification by you Matt. You identified a guy and the police took action on your identification. Now you want them to share the blame. I kid you not keep feeding this crap and I will send this entire thread to the Birmingham police and let you explain to the detective why you think he suddenly went overboard. Yeah Matt I have copied the thread and will send it. Just keep blaming the "cops" we are as usual used to it. Matt your entire post makes me sick. The cops should have done more investigating. Give me a break you identified him and now it's your detectives fault because he should have known you needed to be sure. What a joke you better hope the guy doesn't sue you because news flash the "police acted on your complaint and your positive identification so don't blame the Detective because that won't get you very far.

 

If you think the police get mad when an innocent guy gets arrested based on false information, wait until a judge gets involved.

When I was young I went to small claims court with a friend trying to get his apartment deposit back.
Unfortunately the lame subpoena server he hired delivered the subpoena-to-appear to the wrong apartment manager (same company, different building down the street).
When the judge found out that the apartment manager in front of him was wrongly subpoena'ed to appear - yikes!, he was pissed.
Needless to say my friend's case was thrown out of court on the spot and he was lucky to get out of there without a major fine or being arrested.

That said, there just has to be more to this story though.

 

Ok Matt, Then explain one thing. You posted that "the suspect was denying everything and refused to come in for questioning" it is in your post and he has the right to refuse "we can't force him". So how on earth did you think they could question him? Finally, I am sorry Matt but you had to Id the suspect for a warrent to be issued period. Not I think it is him, Not it looks like him, It has to be yes I am positive it is him period. Just please don't give the " I thought the "cops" would do more to be sure". It is simply offensive. In your first post on this thread you made it clear the "cops didn't want to help you and you had to go through H__L to even get a report while " the detective looked at you with your a dumb__a look" (see post number 1). Now the "cops should have done more to be sure it was the offender" I am sorry Matt it is just plain passing the buck and blaming Law-enforcement for your mistake.

 

I'm no cop, but I am a PI...and this whole story seems like one giant cluster****....first off, why would you continue paying on the car? Sure your credit will get dinged, but let the bank utilize their resourses for recovery. They have more tools available to them than you do, so give them the information, stop paying on the car because they won't do anything for you until you default on the loan and let them put the account in the hands of their skip tracer. They have more pull with the insurance company to get the claim pushed through, they have the financial resources to push the insurance company so they are made whole, and they;ll be far more aggressive in their efforts than you can be. It will damage your credit for a short period, but you can send in an explanation of circumstance, especially with a valid police report, that will list the car as stolen on your credit thus removing the negative reporting....talk about making it harder on yourself.

Here's my red flag questions:
1. Why would you give someone money to pay off YOUR loan? Why on earth wouldn't you pay the difference to the bank directly and wait for the "wire" to come in?
2. You STILL haven't identified HOW you paid this guy the difference that was owed on the loan? Check, money order, or we you really so stupid as to give him CASH?
3. Vacation or no vacation, NO ONE hands over their car and a lump of cash on a WEEKEND night after hours without some sort of confirmation of funds...when a wire is sent, you get a confirmation number that allows you to track it...so why would you give your car up with cash on a weekend when you know you cannot verify the information?
4. Why haven't you ever posted a copy of the police report and this notarized bill of sale? You keep saying you're going to, but never do.

I'm not saying that you are involved with this, but I am saying that it looks VERY suspect when you take all of this drama out of the equation. Having done repossessions for over 10 years, I've seen this exact sceanrio played out several times, all to get out of the payments...it wouldn't surprise me if the car is sitting in a repair garage someplace with a blown engine, someone got the repair estimate and abandoned the car, put this whole scheme together so that insurance would cover it, the plan back fired, and eventually, the shop will file a lien on the car and notify the bank, if they haven't already done so.

It's a really easy solution, stop paying the note, let the bank spend their money...in my experience it's always been the same, you only continue paying for something like this if there is guilt involved. You don't have the car, they can't repossess it from you, it's called third party possession and is most likely a violation of your retail contract anyways, which means IF you actually told your bank what happened, you're in default under the terms of your contract anyways.

But those are my questions which I am sure will go unanswered. Hope it works out and my bs meter is broken.

 

^^^ What he said.

 

In any event, I suggest this Matt. You have referenced the "POLICE" many times in this thread as unhelpful to say the least. I am using kind words. The fact is I can bet every dollar I have that the detective assigned to your case would have some serious issues with your version of facts that you have presented here. I suggest you simply stop posting immediately and let this circus end. Handle this with the detective who obviously acted on your behalf and on your identification. If you don't, then I assure you I will locate the detective with whom you have been working and atleast afford him the opportunity to respond if he so chooses. Let this be it Matt, because it has only served to harm people and can only get worse. End it right now Matt, don't bother responding. Lets move on because seriously if this continues with one more post about anything to do with the detective involved I will forward your words and I doubt you want me to do that. Take care and I hope at some point you find the right guy and he gets what he deserves.

 

^^^ LEO?

 

Yes Sir

 

Where?

RMX

 

If you wish to know further information about me you are welcome to PM me with a phone number and I will be happy to give you further info but I am not going to post my specific information on a public forum. I hope you can understand as I think you would since it appears you are wise enough not to put a lot of personal info on your profile. I would honestly prefer to continue this by PM anyway because I think this thread would be best left to close or die a natural death.

 

Let's recap:

So you gave a complete stranger your car.

Gave him $1800 in cash.

And you expected him to pay you in full on a later date.

Legally demanded your insurance company reimburse you for your questionable actions.

Tell the internet community you found the suspect, push the police to take action.

ID the wrong guy causing him to be listed in crimestoppers and be jailed.


Hmmm...there must be a term in wikipedia that describes this or you......

If you're truly innocent of any fraud then I am sorry for you. A layman would say you brought all this onto yourself.

 

OK...so another red flag pops up here in your story...mind you, I'm not accusing you of anything, IF all of this is true without any "fluffing", which I highly doubt, but giving you the benefit of the doubt, IF all of this is true, you've probably beat yourself up quite a bit over this...BUT, assuming my bs meter is not as skewed as we're hoping for in this case, let's walk through your replies...by the way, thanks for taking the time to post up, it adds some credibility to you to answer questions calmly...so kudos in that respect...BUT...moving on....

YOU borrowed money from someone and you continue to pay for the loan...this was a loan for a car you owned and had possession of...then you sold it...so who's responsibility is it to pay off the loan? The guy that buys the car or the guy that borrowed the money? Correct answer, YOU. In your own words you said YOU expect to pay it back...yet you give a stranger your car AND $1800.00 CASH and HOPE he takes your $1800.00 and gives it to your bank along with the remaining balance? Yeah, ok...we'll assume that this is what happened, for now...I'm sure you see the hole in this one by now.

IF you in fact DID call your bank and ask them how to correctly handle the pay off, they would have told you to obtain an authorization for payoff form or a Limited Power of Attorney, which would have to be notarized as well and this would direct where to send the title once the payoff was posted. Unfortunately, you don't simply pay off a loan and get a title, it goes through a process and one department doesn't know what the other is doing, therefore they need the forms in order to know where to send the title once the lien is cleared. BUT, assuming this call actually took place, they would have also told you in that initial call what the wire cut off time is, which is typically 2pm. When you called at 4:45, convienient time for James to call you when you cannot confirm the wire...of course I'm not sure if you had already given him the car at this point, but I believe you had and that's why you were looking for the "after the fact" wire....but then again, your "bank" said all you needed was a bill of sale....ok...we'll go further on this bill of sale....

You're saying that he showed up with a notarized bill of sale already filled out correct? That's interesting in the sense of, who was going to witness your signature? IF your bank gave you those instructions, then what they most likely meant was that you AND the buyer needed to come INTO the bank, present proper identification, sign the document in FRONT of the notary and then each of you get a copy. Your signatures and form of ID would have been recorded as well as the date, time and location of the signing. But...ok....let's say he DID show up with this form all pre-filled out as you say...did you bother to check his ID? Maybe write down his driver's license number from his ID? That would've been ANOTHER red flag for ANYONE with an ounce of common sense, setting the rest of this story aside for a moment and forgetting that you met afterhours at a Popeye's and gave up your $30k car and $1800 cash to a stranger....but you didn't even check ID? Hell you need valid ID to get in a club or buy alcohol!

Thing is, you gave this guy your car and cash and you now expect him to be honest with you about sending a wire transfer? WOW. You can listen to whomever you want, but to continue paying on this loan given the circumstances, if they are factual, makes no sense at all. In fact, if your insurance company denied the claim as you say, cancel the insurance on the car, I bet you're still paying that as well aren't you? I know, it will make your interest rate go up right? Or your bank will force place insurance on it? Great. Let them. Then let them file the claim and get made whole. You haven't bothered to use your brain during this ordeal from what I can tell so why not start using it now.

Get off the soap box and crying to anyone that will listen, stop paying on the loan and get your bank to help you. Deal with the damaged credit AFTER the problem is resolved. It's a simple problem that you've turned people's lives upside down over and quite frankly, pissed some people off in the process. Your story is full of holes and portrays you as perhaps one of the front runners in the Darwin Awards program. I don't normally respond to these types of threads because it's not my problem, but I took the time to read it front to back and was left scratching my head with questions to your actions that just make me think, there is so much more you're not telling in this....and a BIG part of me thinks it's the truth you're leaving out....like what shop the car is parked at and what poor mechanic is getting stuck holding the bill while you cry the blues with a bs story of "my car got stolen"...IF I am wrong about it, then I will apologize right now and take back anything negative i may have said...but how will we really know if I am wrong? I want to be wrong for the sole purpose of getting the bad guy. Best of luck.

 

If there is a police report stating the car is stolen and the insurance won't pay how can the bank require you to keep insurance on something that no longer exists ? It seems that it is now a unsecured loan since you can't produce the car if you default .

 

Apparantly not...

So why no post?

 

your popcrn futures taking a hit?

 

A temporary setback... but it's almost august. Historically a good month for popcorn!!

 

Look Matt,

The most important thing to me now, is to clear my name. For me to be able to move on and recover from all of this, I need your help. From what I can tell, the D.A. has not reversed the warrant and dropped the charges. I find this strange, since you have said that you told them that i was innocent. If you did, I sincerely appreciate that. But I need more than you saying so on website. I need you to do so on record. If you were the one who made the charges, simply drop the charges. If the authorities refuse to listen to you, then they may be selfishly trying to find a way to get the egg off of their faces since they never even questioned me prior to issuing the warrant (remember, the fact that my mugshot was on record related to those prior tickets indicates that there was likely on records accessible by them, an exact way to get in contact with me).

Matt, without clearing this up, I will have increasing trouble feeding my sizable family as in order have an income, I have to have a good criminal record. Honestly, I'm much more hurt about all of this than I am angry. I dont drink, smoke, never did drugs, father of 5 married, 22 years. I may have my quirks, but I really have tried all my life to be a good person. Finding myself at 42 years old under threat of being put in jail for a felony that i didnt commit is not how I planned my life. Certainly having my children and mother as well as all of their friends see me on Crime Stoppers was not only an embarassment to me, but also to them.

Still, If you are truly remorseful about having gotten me involved in this, I need you to show it by being just as vigilant as you have been in having done so about getting the charges against me dropped. I can only take your word that you told the cops that I'm innocent of the charge you made against me. No, actually, I do believe you have. But as you know, they seem to be still 'kicking the can down the road'. I suspect that they may be more concerned about protecting their own professional records than they are about justice. the photo that ended up on crime stoppers is linked to a file that I'm sure would, upon exercising a little investigative curiosity, lead them directly to my address and phone number. The fact that they have yet to question me directly even after having me completely under their control and after being in the same room with me at court suggests that they are not interested in what I know. By the way. You may recall that my wife was there too. Even you have to wonder why they havent asked us any questions directly. Though I'm sure that I've never met you in my life, let alone driven your car or have direct knowledge of anyone who has, questioning me might well produce info that would lead them to your car.

Hence, telling them I'm not the culprit isn't enough... my innocence has to be on official record and you have to be adamant about clearing my name immediately. The only thing that will recalibrate their focus in getting me exonerated and going after the right guy, i believe is either you personally dropping the charges against me immediately or at least you doing an affidavit clearing me of the charge. Please agree to meet me or my attorney and we can get an affidavit with you stating that I'm not the guy you met that day and drove off with your car. I'm a human being... more importantly, I'm a human being with several dependents. They and I need you to clear my name. Clearly, I have every incentive to help you all I can to find your car.

Ra

 

Compelling stuff.

Ra, I have to admit I raised an eyebrow over this line, "...questioning me might well produce info that would lead them to your car."
What does that mean ?

 

Are you suggesting that there is no conceivable situation that you can envision wherein my innocence can be established here, yet a discussion with me can help lead to the guilty party? or are you suggesting that just because I may be able to help... this indicts me as a co-conspirator? are you really suggesting here that there is no possible way that questioning me can help? what you don't seem to understand here is that the police haven't simply failed to speak to me....THEY WON'T. Believe me...i tried to speak with the investigating cop once on the phone the Friday before to the preliminary trial, after around 2 months of trying to get him on the phone... he seemed cold and uninterested. I hung up the phone feeling that the guy had made his decision about me and there was nothing I could possibly do to change his mind. He was uninterested in anything I had to say. One thing I can agree with Matt on is that the cops seem to be extremely slothful on this mess.

Somethings aren't an either or...... its not either i didn't do it and i know nothing that could help. OR i know something that could help and therefore, im guilty. That's not fair. I DID NOT DO THIS...........AND YET,......... I MAY BE ABLE TO HELP>>>>>> if they let me. C'mon man..this is my life we're talking about. Please don't set up a catch 22 wherein me wanting to help or possibly knowing something that can help is "suspicious". Though I sympathize with Matt having lost his car...the fact is that i risk losing something a bit more fundamental: MY FREEDOM. Its wrong to set up dichotomies where the cops are vigilent about putting somebody behind bars for a crime, yet are lack luster about making sure that its the right guy they put there. the police should be vigilent about putting THE RIGHT GUY behind bars for the crime. NOT just the guy that was originally fingered regardless of the fact that the witness, upon seeing the former realized that said 'fingering' was wrong. It is not fair to find suspect, the possibility that I could know something that could help as possible evidence of my guilt. In reality i dont know for sure that i know anything that could help at all. But I'd like the opportunity to try. It just seems FAIR to ask the guy who's freedoms are at risk a few questions regarding the circumstances and facts of the case in question. Since when is the possibility of being able to help and the desire to try inherently 'suspect'?

This stuff may be good soap opera entertainment for you. but to me this is my life.

the least you could do is be fair.



ra

 

So let's recap...

your wife signed the documets as a notary...
and you are involved or know something...

More than just your life involved here...

Simple question... Do you know what happened to the car?